The networking company devised a hotel room key that shows
guests how to find what they want to do. By touching the key to
digital signs at Caesars Palace, they see deals for fine dining,
massages or shopping at Harrah’s 10 Las Vegas hotels. The idea
came from Dave Evans, Cisco’s chief futurist, part of a 22-
person team that helps companies use new technologies to revamp
their businesses.

“Our properties are massive and it can be hard finding out
what we have,” said Chang, vice president of innovation and
information technology for Harrah’s, the world’s biggest casino
owner. “We thought, wouldn’t it be cool to use technology to
send you information and recommendations on things we know you’d
want to do, such as visiting our spa or booking a cabana?”

Evans and his Global Innovation Practice may help Cisco
meet its three-year goal, thwarted by the recession, of
increasing revenue by 12 percent to 17 percent annually in 2011.
Cisco reported Wednesday that sales in the year ended July 31
rose 11 percent to a record $40 billion. Revenue may grow 13
percent to $45.3 billion the following year, according to
analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Cisco was unchanged at $21.36 at 4 p.m. New York time on
the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has dropped 11 percent this
year.

Interactive Designs

Though Evans’s team is small, its potential effect on
companies -- and Cisco itself -- could be large. That’s because
most of its innovations hinge on computer networking. When
customers buy into Evans’s view of the future, they drive demand
for the routers and switches made by Cisco.

Total cost to customers: zero. That’s no fee for months of
work, including time spent analyzing what a customer wants to
achieve, suggesting ways to improve, devising interactive
designs and testing how consumers react to them. This means the
team generates no direct revenue for Cisco, which still gets
most of its annual sales from routers and switches.

“I spend a lot of my time prognosticating about the
future,” said Evans, who develops the prototypes that make
customers’ goals tangible. “I’m interested in where technology
is going, but as it applies to real-world business problems.”

Internet Bus

In the past two years, the 43-year-old Evans helped design
an Internet-enabled bus with the city of San Francisco, created
advanced teleconferencing rooms that promote brainstorming at
General Electric Co. and developed Harrah’s digital displays.
His team also mocked up an automotive dashboard that relies on
voice commands to display video and other Internet content, and
it created a virtual physicians’ assistant that learns from
experience.

Cisco’s John Chambers created the team 15 years ago, when
he became chief executive officer of the San Jose, California,
company. His goal at the time: to change Cisco’s image as merely
the largest seller of networking equipment. He wanted it to be
seen as an authority on the shape of technologies to come.

“They work to broaden the horizons for executives on the
art of the possible,” said Eric Openshaw, vice chairman and U.S.
technology leader for consulting firm Deloitte LLP in Costa
Mesa, California. “That enhances their brand as an adviser --
and not just a product company.”

Studying the Customer

It’s a collaborative effort that starts by scoping out the
problem a company wants to solve, said Rick Hutley, vice
president of the team. From there, it will suggest dozens of
approaches, rapidly build and discard prototypes, test how
people react to different iterations and watch the customers as
they interact with the technology.

“We use high-definition video surveillance to monitor
traffic patterns, length of time a customer might dwell in an
area, what they may have done before approaching the area and
what they do after they leave,” said Rachael McBrearty,
director of customer experience. “We also interview customers
after they’ve gone through the experience. We’ll spend two to
three days observing, make changes, and go back and do it
again.”

Few efforts involved as many collaborators as San
Francisco’s Connected Bus Project. More than 300 people from 30
organizations came together to design, wire and weld the gear
needed to build a traveling Internet hub.

Shorter Wait Times

The bus, which went into service in February 2008 for a
one-year trial, provided uninterrupted Wi-Fi. It also displayed
when other buses would arrive at stops along the route, helping
riders figure out the best transfer points -- with the shortest
wait times -- between buses.

“The challenge was, how do you get people out of cars and
into public transportation,” said Evans, who sports a thumb
ring on his left hand and a thin gold hoop earring in his left
ear. “We wanted to make transportation more appealing.”

More than a year later, the city is still analyzing what it
learned, said Peter Albert, now manager of the transit agency’s
urban planning initiatives. It found that Wi-Fi isn’t so useful
during peak hours, when commuters have to stand. It also
discovered the best viewing angles for video monitors, so riders
can watch real-time tracking and know when to transfer.

“Dave Evans helped us look into the future,” said Albert,
who was a deputy director of planning at the time. “The project
has ended, but there was a seed left behind with the transit
operators. It’s permanent, and it will bear fruit.”